Category: Must Read

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Contemporary artist Pascale C. Fey creates a world of self-discovery

There are two things that Pascale Chaleyssin-Fey must do before she brings to life her appealing works of art: the first is to turn on some music or perhaps an audio book, and the second is to paint her canvas black before layering on blocks of colour.

It seemed fitting that, as we walked into her studio – a bright room filled with paints and canvasses at her home in Vale d’El Rei – on one August morning, the romantic sound of the accordion could be heard playing from the radio, evoking images of a bohemian French riverside café.

Born in La Rochelle, France, Pascale, a graphic designer by profession, moved to Portugal with her family two years ago. It’s a country she has always loved, having spent family holidays here since the age of 8, and the quiet surroundings of Caramujeira provide the ideal setting for the soft-spoken artist to create her incredibly successful paintings. But nature is not what inspires her: “The city inspires me. Things I see on websites, or even advertisements on a bus. I see a picture and start to transform it in my mind. I don’t paint nature; I paint people, situations…”

With acrylic as her medium of choice, Pascale’s dream-like paintings have become larger over the years, as has the amount of colour she uses in her work. “At the beginning I just used grey, black and red. Now I want to use more colours, because I’m happy to live here!”

A sort of therapy for the contemporary artist, one thing that hasn’t changed is Pascale’s companion, Georges, a mysterious character that appears in many of her paintings and has proved to be extremely sought-after by gallerists and art-buyers. Always shown from the back, donning a large grey overcoat and hat, Pascale explains: “He is anonymous; I want him to be everyone. At the same time he is me, my father, everybody. He can say everything I can’t, he is a reflection of my soul.”

The artist’s “avatar” is depicted walking in the rain, riding a bicycle, touching the stars or on a zebra crossing as he explores the world, with elements of colour and whimsy added in the form of a single balloon or a sea of umbrellas, for example. The only painting showing Georges’ face is particularly special to Pascale, who points to a picture hanging on the wall behind us. “That is my father. I will never sell that one.”

While Georges is very much in demand by galleries, the petite French painter has also developed other popular series, including the angel-inspired La part des anges, the imposing La Dérive des Continents, the shadowy Jeux d’Ombre, Montée des Eaux, which features a series of buildings standing on stilts above rising water, and the introspective Quis suis-je?, which sold out in a single day.

Now represented by the prestigious ArtCatto gallery in Loulé, Pascale has exhibited her work at the Tivoli Carvoeiro hotel, the S. José Convent and Arte Algarve, both in Lagoa, alongside several exhibits in her native France. Upcoming exhibits include shows at the Real Compromisso Marítimo in Ferragudo in September and Casa Manuel Teixeira Gomes in Portimão in November. In the meantime, the artist’s work can also be purchased in a much smaller form: working with her son Antoine, Pascale creates house name plaques which feature her quirky and very appealing designs.

www.cfeypascale.wix.com/fey

Text Cristina Alcock

Photos Joana Alcock

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Classic Cuban cocktails & Salsa with Italian hospitality

There’s nothing quite like the sound of Salsa music to lift your spirit and transport you back in time to the bustling streets of Havana, Cuba in the mid-twentieth century.

Aramis Reyes, a native Cuban and professional dance instructor met his wife Verena Musanti in her hometown of Turin in Italy. The couple shared a passion for dancing and made the decision to move back to Havana where Verena could take an intensive dance instructors course and gain the necessary qualification to become a teacher.

Upon arriving in Havana, Verena found that she became captivated by the city’s vibrant atmosphere and felt a particular bond with Salsa.

With her course completed, the couple began to think about where they would be best suited for the future. Due to a family connection, they chose Ferragudo and formed their dance group, Salsa & Sapori in 2001 in the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication (CLCC) in Portimão to promote Cuban Salsa (and other Latin rhythms) in the Algarve. They were astounded when more than 50 students turned up for the first class.

Verena joked, “I honestly think the fact that Aramis didn’t speak the language was a hit with the ladies. On a serious note though, it encouraged the students to absorb the music and not be distracted by verbal instruction, which gave great results. We soon felt that the dance group was not so much a class but a meeting of friends”.

The dance group grew across the Algarve, with weekly classes from east to west becoming more and more popular.

The couple began to perform shows, attend events in the summer season in front of large groups of tourists and even started travelling further afield to other regions of Portugal and abroad. Such was the demand for Salsa and Latino music, Aramis morphed into DJ Aramis, playing in many of the Algarve hotspots of the time, including Manoel’s Jazz Club and The Bote in Carvoeiro.

Their Mediterranean and Cuban characters, and professional and personal relationship make them the perfect hosts for their new project, Salsa & Sapori – Cuban Music Bar. It was a natural choice, which originated from the couple’s roots and young family commitments. They have brought their love of Salsa dancing, entertaining, eating and drinking together in an intimate corner property, owned by Jose Mourinho’s father, just off Ferragudo harbour.

Salsa & Sapori opened it’s doors in April 2015, revealing a brightly painted bar area with large Cuban images decorating the walls and hand-distressed furniture giving a classic Cuban feel.

Salsa and Latin music pour out onto the street enticing people inside, where a warm welcome awaits and the drinks keep flowing until the early hours. Smiling, Verena explained, “We offer everyone a small tapas with each drink. We really want people to feel welcome and enjoy our little slice of Havana”.

“We never know when the dancing will start. More often than not, the tables and chairs end up outside on the terrace and the bar area turns into a dance floor where we usually end up choreographing a routine with willing participants. Most people do end up joining in but we certainly would not force anyone to dance. Some people are more than happy in their seats, tapping their feet”.

With big plans for the future they are already taking reservations for private dance classes in the bar with one-to-one, group and even couples coming for pre-wedding dance lessons. The plans also include an extended menu to showcase several Italian favourites, daytime opening, parties and events.

Tel: 282 483 214

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Local producers take canned fish to a new level

Canned fish became fashionable a few years ago with gourmet cafés and shops popping up all over Portugal, with some only supplying canned fish products and creating inventive ways of serving them.

To reflect its rising popularity, an artisanal “canned fish” production facility opened in July of this year. Saboreal is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs with the collective vision of keeping everything as fresh, sustainable, handmade and local as possible.

Vincent Jonckheere, 34, a Belgian professor of hospitality economy, Manuel Mendes, 30, a pharmacist and André Teixeira, 28 a fishing vessel owner, both Portuguese, formed their company and began looking for suitable premises. After much deliberation, they found the ideal site in Parchal, not far from the old Portimão bridge. It was a logical choice, as sardines and mackerel arrive directly from the fishermen’s boats into the production facility, guaranteeing the freshest possible product.

The majority of the ingredients used in production are sourced within a 20-30 kilometer radius of the Parchal factory. Garlic, carrots, lemons, onions, olives, almonds, coriander, dried tomatoes and sea salt are prepared on site ready for “canning day” and stored in the refrigeration area until required.

Vincent explained “We are effectively a three-man operation. We select the fish ourselves, clean and prepare them in our purpose-built facility – where we ensure that each fish passes our quality control a second time – before preparing them in a special Portuguese-built oven, which rapidly cooks the fish while maintaining the flavour, colour and texture. Then we fillet each fish by hand to make a batch of Tapas.”

The recipes were conceived after months of testing, experimentation and market research. The results are natural and flavoursome – the very essence of the Algarve.

The trio decided to use glass containers, Manuel Mendes told us “the jars lend themselves to a handmade image, which is vital to convey. Cans also need much greater industrialisation and a higher volume of fish, which is not our goal. Our line handles less than 100 kilograms of fish a day and that just wouldn’t warrant acquiring the machinery to make the cans”.

Andre adds, “it’s important to the consumer to be able to see the quality of the product that they are buying”.

The glass jars are sterilised in a large cleaning vat in the preparation zone where there is a small window of time to fill each of the jars by hand with the fresh fish mixture. The sterilisation process, called “autoclaving”, creates a vacuum seal inside the glass jars, enabling the contents to have a shelf life of around three years. Once the caps have been fitted, the labels are affixed to the jars by hand, packed and ready for distribution.

Saboreal currently produce three varieties of fish tapas, sardines with sun-dried tomatoes, mackerel with almonds and green olives, and horse mackerel with carrot and coriander, which are available in small jars. Whole fillets of sardines, mackerel or horse mackerel preserved in extra virgin olive oil are on sale in larger jars.

An animated Vincent exclaimed, “We believe in handmade products. Working with our hands enables us to produce a product with a unique flavour and quality. We place great value in using the skills of man rather than heavy machinery. We are firm advocates of local and sustainable products. To make good products we need good ingredients, so we use local producers to get them.”

The operation runs like a well-oiled machine with the drive and determination of each of the three owners evident at every stage of the process. They are passionate and focused on pushing their venture onwards and upwards with talk of expanding into tuna part of their plans for the future.

Saboreal Tapas are available from carefully selected retailers in the local area, Earth Shop & Cafe in Carvoeiro, Da Nossa Terra em Alvor Casa Grande in Ferragudo and Maria do Mar in Portimao.

Find them on Facebook: ConserveiraSaboreal

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Introducing the only gin made in the Algarve, by Algarveans

There is no drink quite as fashionable as gin right now.

A Dutch invention that’s quintessentially English at heart, the spirit once associated to middle-aged, middle-class drinkers in the form of the classic gin & tonic has exploded to become Portugal’s drink du jour.

In the last couple of years, gin bars have been popping up across the country, with an increasing number of gin experts serving carefully prepared concoctions in balloon glasses to various generations of Portuguese and international drinkers alike. But “the perfect serve” is more than a fleeting trend and Portuguese businesses have taken notice. Today, there are a number of gins produced here in Portugal, but only one of them is made right here in the Algarve with products that best represent the region: Tangerine Gin.
Presented in a distinctive orange bottle bearing the words ‘Premium Citrus Reticulata Gin’, Tangerine Gin is the result of two years of development, the brainchild of Portimão native Eduardo Peixinho Reis. It was when he joined forces with local producer Luís Sequeira, the man behind the Talurdinha aguardente firewaters and liqueurs in the village that has been distilling as far back as 1747, that the Algarve’s first and only gin was born.
It’s in a distillery between Lagoa and Silves that Luís Sequeira produces this citrusy gin, first launched in late 2014. London dry in style, it is triple distilled in copper steam boilers, with nine different dehydrated botanicals added to the spirit: juniper, tangerine, orange, lemon, almond, black pepper

(the only botanical not from Portugal), liquorice, angelica and coriander seed. Still in its early days as a gin-maker, the distillery can produce 30,000 litres, a figure that can increase depending on market demands.
“The gin trend isn’t a global thing, but it has become huge in some countries including Portugal, so producing a gin was inevitable,” explains Eduardo, a food engineer who also teaches at the Hospitality School in Portimão. “We had to set it apart from London gin; we can’t compete with all the English gins so we had to create a different product that also promotes the Algarve and its own products. From the start, the idea was to produce an aromatic product with a different look.”
With 42% alcohol, the gin is extraordinarily versatile, according to the producers, and there are many debates as to the best way to serve it. Eduardo recommends serving it with tonic and a slice of orange – or just the zest if it’s sweet enough – or freshly squeezed orange juice (“using Silves oranges, of course!”), coriander, lemon or basil. “It can also be drunk straight as it’s very easy to drink, and it’s amazing in cocktails,” adds the Algarvean.
Speaking from the distillery’s tasting room, which is open to visitors, the team explains: “We have two big advantages here. First, that our distilling tradition dates back to the 18th century – in fact the Algarve is the region that has been distilling the longest, a tradition that comes from the Moors –, and second, our microclimate and temperature, which gives us everything, aromatic plants and other ingredients.” They note, however, that the Algarve has one handicap when it comes to gin production: it doesn’t have juniper, which only grows at high altitudes. To produce Tangerine Gin, the junipers are brought in from the Serra da Estrela mountain range.
Bearing the stamp ‘Product of Portugal’, which reflects Eduardo’s belief that we should promote the country and the Algarve through its unique products and experiences, the gin was also created in collaboration with some of the region’s beverage professionals, whose feedback helped perfect the final recipe. “Their input is in the genesis of the product today, they all left their stamp. So you could say it really is a product of the Algarve through and through.”
As well as in bars and restaurants, Tangerine Gin is available at supermarkets and wine shops across the Algarve, including Intermarché in Carvoeiro and Rei das Praias Boutique in Ferragudo (RRP around €25).